Let’s take a quick pause to acknowledge just how amazing the internet is.

Sometimes I feel like looking at my computer is a waste of time, but honestly, I receive so much inspiration, humor, connection and education from my web perusals. It’s a pretty incredible resource. I received my first email address when I was in elementary school, so I don’t really remember much of life before the web, but I have witnessed real evolution in it as a medium for communicating art, style, design and information.

Here are a few links of things I’ve loved recently….from silly pretty stuff to more serious thought-provoking issues:

Fall is such a great time to play outside. It passes all too quickly though, so I always try to make the most of this beautiful time of year.

Autumnal food tastes so satisfying and nourishing. Fall fashion is much more interesting than summer because of the opportunities for more texture and layering. And Halloween is pretty much the most awesome holiday ever. Caramel apples, fun costumes, ghost stories, what’s not to love?

So it’s Tuesday and I’m not feeling particularly sparkly. Blame it on the Supermoon, but I have not slept through the night in days and it’s starting to wear on me.

My body felt a bit too delicate in my Second Series practice this morning and I have a busy day ahead.

In my dream world I would enjoy spending this day creating grand and exhilaratingly wild floral designs like those of Constance Spry. I would definitely be wearing a silk turban and pearls. I would lounge about in the afternoon sipping on iced lindenflower tisane and nibbling pink and green macaroons (non-vegan, full of sugar and wheat, if you please!).

But no, off to teach a class I go, followed by an hour of getting needles stuck in me where I will inevitably be given another few weeks’ worth of vile herbs to drink, and then an afternoon of washing, windexing and wrapping ribbons around vases at my unglamorous job at the floral warehouse.

I hope you are having a beautiful and relaxing weekend. I’ve had a very busy week working my two new floral jobs – yippee! Wedding season is crazy but I’m having so much fun being a part of the creative scene.

Or at least that’s what the technicolor poster in our apartment in India said….

True or not, I sure am crazy about flowers!

I love for people to smile and be happy (Bobby McFerrin was my jam when I was a kiddo).

I adore how a bunch of beautiful blooms can brighten up someone’s day and lift their spirits almost instantly. Everyone loves receiving flowers, right? That’s why it became clear to me, after the endeavor of DIYing the flowers for my wedding last year, that I want to be in the floral business. Why not make a career out of making people smile?

Being a florist requires a lot of hard work, creativity, adaptability, inspiration and passion. I may lack many things in life (logical organization skills, great handwriting, innate tidiness, comprehension of numbers, just to a name a few…), but these aforementioned requirements of floristry are actually all qualities that I possess.

Last week I completed an intensive course in floral design. It was incredibly fun, educational and eye-opening. I’ve always loved arranging flowers, but I had no idea how much there was to learn about it. It’s truly an art.

I love being crafty and making messes, but working with flowers took my creative streak to a whole new level because it’s designing and building with a living medium. I am completely jazzed these days on playing with the different colors, compositions and textures of plants.

I’m still just in the early stages of communication with a few different flower shops and design studios, but I know something great will appear to help me gain more experience in this field. I’ll keep you posted!

For now, here are just a few snapshots of arrangements I created while in school over the past month.

My Thaddeus. I always love him of course, but I’m especially grateful for the extra awesomeness he’s been offering me these past few weeks. Since I’m in school right now and he is not working (he begins his acupuncture program in two months and will be fully engaged in that endeavor for the next 3 years) he has been cooking me dinner every night, preparing post-practice breakfast while I shower, running errands, cleaning the house and not even letting me touch a dirty dish. A-mazing. I really like having a housewife! He’s cute too.

I’m finally getting near the end of the epic journey that has been reading Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. This book is so engrossing and also sometimes crazy boring. It makes me want to go to Paris right now, but I’m still mystified how that musical emerged out of this insanely long and twisted tome.

This blog – NaturallyElla. Such an encyclopedia of healthy, delicious, seasonal vegetarian recipes.